Ferdinand talks up King credentials

29 May 2010 10:09
Rio Ferdinand has hailed the qualities of Ledley King as the battle to win a place in England's World Cup squad enters its final 72 hours.[LNB] King made his first appearance for England in three years during Monday's 3-1 win over Mexico at Wembley.[LNB]The Tottenham defender scored the opening goal although he was far from satisfied with his overall performance.[LNB]But Ferdinand has no doubts about the quality of King, who looks set to be part of the final 23 despite his ongoing knee problem.[LNB]The England skipper said: "How did I find partnering Ledley on Monday? Good, very good.[LNB]"But then we all know that Ledley is a quality player so to play alongside him is not a problem.[LNB]"He is a talented footballer and we got on well out there against Mexico."[LNB]Former captain John Terry is poised to play against Japan in tomorrow's friendly in Graz and, like Ferdinand, is a certainty to be part of the final squad announced on Tuesday.[LNB]But Ferdinand knows the determination amongst the players to make the most of their final opportunity to impress Capello.[LNB]And he stressed the need for England to impose themselves on their rivals after being guilty of allowing Mexico time and space during the opening 45 minutes.[LNB]He said: "Everyone is chomping at the bit to put themselves out there in front of the manager and show him what we can do.[LNB]"We had that chance against Mexico and now there will be another this weekend.[LNB]"There are things to take on board. We didn't press the ball as well as we should all over the park against Mexico in the first half.[LNB]"We are an English team. We need to make sure we press teams and make sure we make it hard for teams to play against us.[LNB]"I thought we didn't do that in the first half as much as we could have.[LNB]"But it was always going to be a good exercise, the chance for players to put themselves in the manager's thinking and there were some good performances for the manager to consider."[LNB]Ferdinand was left out of the Euro 2000 squad and will have sympathy for the seven players culled from Capello's provisional squad on Tuesday.[LNB]He said: "I've been there, I've had that talk, that conversation, saying 'you are not experienced enough or not good enough' - however they want to dress it up.[LNB]"You are not getting that chance to go on the plane and to have that said to you is not a nice thing.[LNB]"When the time comes I'm sure we will deal with it in the right way but the manager is top drawer and I'm sure he will sort it out."[LNB]

Source: Team_Talk